


Failed Mission

by The_Maze_Writer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt Peter Parker, I'm choosing not to use archive warnings so I don't spoil, Mission Failure, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Things Go Wrong, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony isn't getting along with Steve or Bucky, Your hint is things go wrong so just know it's not a fun bubbly story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-05 21:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20280073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Maze_Writer/pseuds/The_Maze_Writer
Summary: Previously published as chapter 5 on Fanfiction.net under the name "Peter Parker & The Avengers"."Peter had a bad habit of trying to get involved in situations that should be left for the more experienced, and today was no exception."





	Failed Mission

**Author's Note:**

> Please drop a review!

(Set after Homecoming. Tony, Steve, and Bucky are not on the best of terms still.)

Prompt: Failed Mission

He was holding the whole world in his hands.

That's what he told himself day everyday since he became Iron Man. The world needed his help and he was happy to provide…..most of the time. When the Avengers came to be, things got more complicated. Suddenly he had a team to consider, he couldn't just do whatever he wanted when he wanted. Sure, there were added consequences thanks to the accords but to be honest Natasha's rath scared him more than any old government official. Under the watchful and frankly scary eyes of Pepper he got his shit together and started learning to take orders as well as give them.

The "Original Avengers" had all been experienced adults. Even when they expanded everyone had fit in those two categories (well, Wanda was kind of an exception but shhhhhh at least she had experience.) When the bright eyed and bushy tailed Peter Parker came onto Tony's radar he hadn't expected the arrangement to be so….. permanent.

As with everyone else that got within 10 feet of the kid, he got sucked into those damn doe eyes, his eager to please attitude. Peter followed Tony around like a damn puppy and if he was being honest… he kind of enjoyed it. He had a sense of responsibility now, something to help get him out of bed. Peter was his responsibility, even at his tender age he showed major potential and an incredible skill set. Tony had spent many hours on modifications and protocols for the boy, especially since the Homecoming fiasco. He vowed to himself that something like that would never happen again. Peter could have easily been killed by that madman he took on alone. Even the thought made Tony shiver. Peter had a bad habit of trying to get involved in situations that should be left for the more experienced, and today was no exception.

"You're benched."

"No I'm not! Mr. Stark, I can handle myself!"

Tony sighed and brought both hands to his face, rubbing at the worn lines already creasing his features.

"Peter, you are 15 years old. If I tell you you're benched, then you're benched." In the background he can hear Pepper mumbling something grumily that sounds suspiciously like "YOU were supposed to be benched."

The eyes of the Spiderman suit narrow.

"You're saying that like I don't have the same responsibilities you do. This has nothing to do with my age, I was doing this before I met you. I need to help Mr. Stark! You don't understand!"

Tony opened his mouth to protest again that "Um, no you do NOT have the same responsibilities I do kid. This is an adult job and I will not have your blood on my hands", when Steve burst through the lab door.

"Tony, Spiderman, you've got 3 minutes to meet us at the doors, grab everything you need." With a pointed look to Tony's suitless body and a respectful nod to Peter he disappeared out the door again. "Undoubtedly to find someone else to harass", Tony thought irritably. He could picture Peter's shit eating expression as he turned to Tony again.

"Besides, if you don't let me fight you've got to explain to all of them why and I figure you don't want to tell them how old I am? In my experience people tend to think my age means I can't take care of myself." Another pointed look to Tony.

"Kid, it's not that I think you aren't good at what you do. Just-" he fumbled for words he couldn't quite find to express himself properly "-don't do anything stupid, alright? Support, that's your job."

"TONY, SPIDERMAN!"

Quickly, Tony activated his suit and stepped inside. The metal folded and wrapped its way around his body, whirring as parts connected and snapped into place. He followed the kid as Peter practically hopped up the stairs, coming to a stop in front of Captain Asshole. Steve looked past the kid to raise an eyebrow at Tony. It took all his willpower not to raise a mechanical middle finger back at him. With a withering look the Captain turned to the team, clapping loudly to gather their attention.

"Alright, listen up. We have a hostage situation at an undercover Hydra compound. Fury suspects that they're trying to start up another "Winter Soldier" look-alike program. They're breeding killers. We don't know how far along the hostages are into the program. We don't know how dangerous they will be, let alone the guards, who are sure to be heavily armed." He ran a hand over his clean-shaven face tiredly then continued.

"Because of SHIELD's inside source we have a chance to intercept before things go sideways. Here's the plan. Tony, Bucky, Rhodes, and I will take the head on approach. Spiderman, you're going to take the vents, jump down on them as a surprise attack and web up as many as you can. Natasha, you do what you have to get to those hostages and take down their technology. Clint, you're making sure she gets there okay. We have Dr. Banner in the medbay readying it for the influx of patients we're about to get." He broke the speech long enough to regard them all with a half grimace.

"We're working with unknown threats here and that makes every step we take from here on out extremely risky. Eyes and ears open at all times. We've got a lot of advantages that they don't."

…

About 10 minutes away from the HYDRA compound Peter jumped out of the smaller quinjet lookalike, shouting a quick explanation behind him about a "Surprise attack, remember?". Tony hurried over to a window to watch the boy's descent. He watched as Peter freefell a good 50 feet before extending his arm and letting a web yank him into the treeline, whooping with joy. A light chuckle behind him had him tuning to meet Clint's slightly amused grin.

"Kid's got style."

"Or he has a death wish," Natasha murmured beside him. Tony turned sharply to glare at her but she simply met his gaze steadily. He knew she only made comments like that because of her own concerns (and suspicions about the age of the young hero), but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"He's fine, just showing off," he grumbled, breaking his eye contact with Nat and taking his seat once more, folding his arms over his chest.

"Hey, Tones? Who is that kid anyway?" Now his disgruntled glare was directed at Rhodey.

"Secret identity Rhodes."

"He knows who we are," Rhodey pointed out.

"Like any of you were really keeping it a secret," Tony snapped back, leaning his head against the rail above him. He was fully pissed off now. He couldn't get that kid to listen to a damn thing he said, Peter was always running into the thick of things with absolutely no idea what he was fighting for. This mission put every single one of them at risk. On top of that, now he was playing 20 questions with the rest of the team and he had absolutely no patience for it. He could feel their eyes on him. Even the Avengers who had stayed quiet so far regarded him. Let them. He remained stubbornly quiet.

As the look-alike quintjet landed on a rooftop roughly a block out he let his faceplate drop over his features. He was ready to therapeutically blow some guys up. The Avengers gathered themselves quickly, Tony and Captain Asshat took the front, flanked by Rhodey and Bucky, then Clint and Nat. Tony had no doubts Peter had already made it into the vent system. As armed as they were, not even Hydra expected a vent based attack.

The Hydra compound was huge and heavily resembled a warehouse. Glancing at the outside it looked like a completely normal building but Tony wasn't fooled. They exited the jet quickly, knowing they had very little time before they lost the element of surprise. They broke into a light jog over the asphalt, coming to a halt in front of the big double doors. On a good day, Tony would have taken the more classy route and asked FRIDAY to "Be a dear and hack through the security system." Today he was annoyed and worried and therefore lacked tact.

"Hope you all put on your big kid pants today," Tony muttered in the vague direction of his teammates, aiming his repulsors at the doors. The blast hit the door at full power and the chains on the insides of the doors were melted clean through.

"Might wanna work on your security, just a suggestion." Tony quipped to the now frozen guards. It only took a moment before gunfire started lighting up the air.

"Heavily Armed," was one way to put it. "Some Absolute Bullshit," was another. Steve had his shield out in the next two seconds, crouching behind it like a coiled up snake. From the safety of its vibranium body Natasha and Clint were also crouching, taking their own masterful shots back. Bucky was stuck waiting for the all clear behind Natasha and Clint, snarling frustratedly at his lack of long range weaponry. Tony and Rhodey had the luxury of big metal suits and were having their own fun. Frustration built on the shielded faces of the black cloaked guards as their bullets did no harm to the two flying creatures overhead. Tony's repulsors shots WERE doing harm, and so were Rhodey's. All eyes and weapons were trained on the super intruders, so when a head popped out of the ceiling and two white mechanical eyes appeared, no one noticed until after the first 5 guns had been whipped out of grasps and onto the ceiling.

Startled cries broke through the air and a few of the guards turned to see what had caused the noises of distress. Now less outnumbered and with their targets confused and distracted, they all took their shots. Bucky lunged forward, extending out his arms to grab two guards by their throats and slamming their backs into the ground, one in each hand. Captain America flung his shield out like a Frisbee, knocking over guards like baseball cards, sliding across the floor as bullets pursued him. Natasha was flipping gracefully through the air, carrying out a sort of gymnastic karate as she worked her way across the room. Clint had his bow and arrow out and with one eye on Nat he was taking out her threats while taking care of his own. All while more and more guns were being ripped from hands and onto the ceiling, walls, and floors surrounding them as Spiderman swung from rafter to rafter.

On a low set second floor about 35 feet from where they had originally burst in was a curtained off room, surrounded by thick glass. It didn't take a genius to figure out where the hostages were being tied up and tortured. As guns were torn away from grips and the guards were forced to resort to their hand to hand training, Spiderman saw his opening. Seeing Natasha a little preoccupied he took a wide swing, legs to his chest, using momentum to pull him forward before extending his legs and shattering the window with sheer force. Glass scattered everywhere, littering the floor and glittering like snow. The light coming from the wide open doorway hit the pieces of glass and iridescent rainbows shone lazily across the room. With a call of "Taser webs Karen!", the computer equipment was fried. Sparks flew and when a light tingle bloomed at the base of his neck he ducked, missing a particularly fiery spew that surely would have singed off his eyebrows.

Looking confusedly up at him were about 8 adults, looking decidedly not murder-y, which Peter was very grateful for. The didn't seem injured, just dazed and scared. With another well aimed, super strength powered kick Peter made a hole in the side of the compound wall. More sunlight streamed in and the adults squinted at the opening like they had never seen the sun before.

"Don't wait for us, go to jet! Back at the tower we've got a guy there that'll check you over." Still looking around in utter confusion, like they didn't know what was going on or what anything around them was, the hostages filed out of the jagged hole in the wall.

Peter turned on his heel and lept back through the other hole, into the midst of the fight. "Nice!". All he wanted to do was impress Mr. Stark, and now he had a chance of actually doing it! That'll show Tony how capable he was! With a light leap he jumped back onto the ceiling, pulling out his webshooters to help incapacitate some of the guards.

Tony himself had just fired a strain of missiles, and they exploded on the ground in a cacophony of noise. By now the battle was pretty much over, the Hydra cronies no match for 7 supercharged superheros. Tony was looking forward to a clean finish when his thoughts were interrupted by another yell.

"GRENADE!" Captain America shouted. He dove in the opposite direction, snagging Nat by the waist and taking her with him, holding up his shield to protect them both front the brunt of the blast.

Tony already had eyes on the guy who had thrown it and shot him through the chest before he could take another step. He whipped his head around just in time to see Peter fly through the air above him. Tony didn't even have time to scream before Peter's body collided with the grenade and they were both thrown backwards into the wall. His skull, despite being covered in in the metal of his helmet, was thrown back harshly into the cement and he crumpled to the floor, vision blurring, head on fire. His ears were ringing, breath knocked out of him. He could just make out the sounds of metal clattering to the ground as the room exploded into sparks of silver. Shards of metal, glass, and destroyed armor littered the floor. He pulled himself to his feet slowly, ignoring the crunching of glass underfoot. He almost fell as his head swam and his vision tunneled, but he didn't care. He had just watched a child launch himself at a grenade.

"P-peter….." his voice faltered as dread pooled into his stomach. No. No. Not the excitable child who had curled up in his lap and fallen asleep during movie night. Not the kid who flushed red at any joke that was even slightly crude. Not the boy who played hide and seek on the ceiling.

He stumbled across the ground, ignoring his teammates as they too got to their feet. Peter had been flung clear across to the opposite side of the room. Blood was splattered everywhere, including the walls like some 80's horror movie. He tripped over one of the black clothed bodies littering the floor and had to take a second to regain his balance. Carnage was everywhere. The scent of death hung thick in the air. Time seemed to slow as he dropped to the kids side, relief filling his hollow heart as he saw the heaving of Peter's chest. He could hear movement behind him but he ignored it. Shrapnel was everywhere, littering Peter's chest, arms, and legs. Blood was pooling on the floor, weaving a river across the concrete. A particularly large piece stuck out from the boys sternum. Peter himself was panting, tears dripping down his cheeks, the mechanical eyes of the suit wide and pain stricken. Tony reached up and gently pulled the mask off, completely lost for words, his own gripping panic rendering him speechless. Peter's wide and frightened gaze turned to him, bottom lip wobbling. His hand flopped limply at his side and Tony took it without hesitation.

"Karen," Tony's words were soft and hesitant, lips not quite forming the question. His mouth felt dry. He didn't take his eyes off Peter's. A 3D model expanded into view, rotating slowly as Karen silently highlighted Peter's injuries. Forced entry points of foreign bodies, the jagged edges of broken ribs, a pool of red expanding inside the model that shouldn't be there. To his horror, Tony saw reports flashing across the screen indicating irreversible organ damage done to boy's spleen and one of his kidneys.

"Tony," a soft voice behind him made him break gazes with the whimpering child at his feet. It wasn't until his vision failed to fully focus that he realized he was crying. Captain America looked past him at the sight of broken and blood covered boy with thinly veiled horror. It was the first time he had seen the boy's face. With a gulp he returned Tony's gaze.

"Bruce called, he said he got the injury report from FRIDAY. His organs are shutting down, Tony. Nothing we can do."

Tony choked on a breath and moaned, low and guttural like a wounded animal. He couldn't breathe. The world spun around him in a lazy, nausea inducing circle. The suit melted away until the man was left on his knees in front of the Cap, blood soaking through his clothing. When he looked back up at his team members his eyes held something they had never seen before. Vulnerability. Hot tears ran down his cheeks as looked up at them with what could only be described as guilty, panic filled terror.

"Oh god, h-he's just fifteen." The statement didn't even seem directed at them, just at the empty air, thick with tension.

His attention was back to Peter in a millisecond, his body curled over the fallen as he whispered words of comfort to the boy. He didn't see Rhodey's and Cap's faces drain of all color. He didn't see Clint, who knew just how it was like to have children, turn and throw up, dark bile spattering against the floor. He didn't see Nat's eyes close as she fought tears, didn't see Bucky freeze in place, eyes wide.

It was just him and Peter.

"T-tony?"

"Yeah, kid. I'm right here." He stroked Peter hair, wishing he could be more of a comfort. He could see Peter's skin wrapping around smaller pieces of shrapnel, burying pieces of metal inside his body as it desperately tried to win a losing battle. Dark blood curled around them both. Peter's right arm was sticking out at a strange angle, hanging useless at his side after it's impact with the wall.

"I-I'm s-scared."

"You're alright Pete, you're good." Peter's eyes filled with tears again and Tony brushed them away, shushing him gently. Peter's chest heaved below his touch as he struggled to pull air around the intruding metal.

"Y'you o-ok?" Peter's eyes were wild and glassy, searching for him.

"I'm fine. You saved us, y'know? I told you you'd be the best of all of us. I'm so proud of you." He was rewarded with a dopey smile. Peter's eyes flickered and Tony's heart clenched again.

This was really it. No more excitable kid running around his lab, no more patrol reports, no one to stare at him in wonder like he was the coolest person alive. Instead of those wide eyes, that big smile, the excitable chatter was the grey pallor of a barely conscious kid surrounded by a halo of his own blood. Tony hoped he was past the point of pain. He hoped those doe eyes weren't taking in his surroundings as his head moved softly from side to side.

Tony's whole body was shaking uncontrollably. His hands shook as he touched the side of Peter's face, trying desperately to distract the boy from the chaos, the bodies littering the floor around them.

"Hey, bud, look at me, ok? Focus on me." Glass covered brown eyes meet his, wide, trusting, and searching.

"M'is'er S'ark? Am I going to be okay?"

Tony felt his stomach flip and nausea fill his throat, threatening to pull up his organs with one heave. He fought to push the feeling down, gagging. His eyes were blurring and burning and he blinked, letting tears roll down his cheeks, dripping onto the blood streaked ground.

"Yeah, bud. You're gonna be just fine. Go to sleep, Spiderbaby. You did so well. So well. I'm so proud of you," he choked, barely able to speak over the lump in his throat. He smiled down gently, stroking away the boy's tears as tears of his own dripped onto Peter's cheeks.

Peter's eyes fluttered again and Tony leaned over, pressing his lips to Peter's hairline.

"There you go, kid. You did so well. Just rest, kid. I love you so much." No more suffering for him. Please.

Peter's eyes closed and Tony pressed his lips together, eyes closing, whole body shaking, as a silent sob raked through his body. He opened them again and let his hand rake through Peter's hair, saltwater tears hitting jagged metal edges protruding from soft flesh.

"You're so brave, Peter. That was so brave."

Peter didn't respond. He never would again.

Tony had never felt more alone. He sat on the floor of a war-zone, covered in blood, tears and broken metal. He cradled Peter's body in his arms, allowing the floodgates to open, for the cavernous hole to open rip holes through his entire being, tearing him open from the inside out.

He didn't think about May, and how he was going to have to explain to her that today she had lost her only family. He didn't think about Ned and how he had lost his best friend. He especially didn't think about MJ, the scary girl who would never get to know Peter's real feelings, how he grinned with animated nervousness whenever he talked about her. He didn't think of all the missing milestones, how Peter hadn't even graduated high school yet. He didn't think about Queens, who had lost their greatest hero. He didn't think about everything in the world he would do to take Peter's place. He just sat on the floor of a war-zone, covered in blood and tears and broken metal.

He was holding his whole world in his hands.


End file.
